Fluidigm Corporation

Three decades ago engineers realized that fabrication methods that gave birth to the semiconductor industry could be used to make devices for regulating nano-scale quantities of fluids and gasses. That is, a variation on photo lithography could be used to finely pattern chips having microscopic channels, pumps, valves, and other components. These components could be densely arrayed for parallel operations, without loss of reliability.

Fluidigm is making that vision a reality through the introduction of integrated fluidic circuits (IFCs). Our mission is to develop, manufacture, and distribute systems composed of IFCs, instrumentation, and consumables, enabling new efficiencies in science and industry. The company's product pipeline includes the TOPAZ® system for protein crystallization, introduced in 2002 and tracking toward profitability by 2006; the new Dynamic Array for genetic analysis, slated for introduction in 2006; and other projects, co-developed with external partners, to address diverse applications. Fluidigm exercises a core competence in materials science and IFC fabrication. The Company's patent portfolio consists of over 25 issued US patents and over 200 pending patents internationally, including those licensed from Caltech, Harvard, University of Alabama, and University of California.

Graphene oxide membranes have been receiving attention for their extremely powerful separation abilities and the ease at which it can be modified, allowing for membrane permittivity to be fine-tuned. These membranes show the potential to be used for water purification, ‘green’ gas purification and greenhouse gas capture.